Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, but the situations are of my own devilish imagination.

Note: I wanted to take a moment to thank everybody who has been following this story and commenting/following. The comments are so supportive and awesome, it makes me feel loved ;-) It's always funny to me how ideas you would consider to be outlandish, strange or perhaps only interesting to yourself, can really appeal to so many. I will start trying to get back to all those who comment if I can. As always, I hope you enjoy this chapter. The next 2 will be emotionally difficult for reasons I'm sure you will better understand after reading this. But I have some time to delve into those feelings and hope to post one additional chapter before the end of the year. Fingers crossed.

Hugs!

Chapter 5: A Plan Unfolds

He offered her a glass of firewhiskey, extending a tumbler in her direction silently as the fire of his study crackled and popped behind them. She had been listless since the executions at the Resocialization Camp just hours before, it had begun to worry Severus. Not looking in his direction, the young woman he knew as Erica Simmons took the glass from his hand, and he felt both the weight of the glass and his own concerns lift. She stared out his tall study windows, looking into the dark abyss of woods near the manor house as he often did, cupping the glass tight to her breast, not sure what to think or how to feel. Severus knew this feeling well, the feeling that even the most fundamental things in your life were out of your control. His eye lingered on the girl before he made his way to his armchair, poured himself a healthy glass of what he had offered her and sat down near the fire.

There were no words to describe the amount of relief Severus had felt when she emerged from the archives of the camp, her eyes bloodshot either from strain or tears, he had neither known nor cared in that moment. It had taken Erica the five hours he had allotted her to come to a conclusion as to which of the guard pairs had either aided or turned a blind eye to the escape of the dissidents. All the men watched her, wondering what her final word would be. She was doing her best to hide the emotions that must have been swirling inside her. To most people, Erica would have seemed emotionless in this moment, jaw set and mouth pulled into a thin line. To a person who had observed her over months as he had, her attempt at containment was her tell that she was emotionally torn. He'd put her in a position where she could not avoid causing the deaths of two men, she was a pawn in the dangerous politics he was playing in the prison. For any person with a measure of human emotion, it was a horrible thing to have on your conscious. The knowledge that no matter how you decided, human beings were going to die. For a person like Severus, it was an almost daily occurrence. One he had become so desensitized to that he found it difficult to empathize with her. 'What kind of a monster have I become?' he mulled these words over in his mind as he observed the young lady before him, firewhiskey coating his mouth.

She leaned against the window frame, her back to him with the fire lapping at her clothing. The shadows rose and fell on her, allowing his eyes to dance across her body with the excuse that he was just following the flames. Her shortly cut hair a common brown color he had grown fond of years before, her frame and height reminiscent of the young woman he had lost a long time ago.

'Even if did find her again, I'm no longer the man I was before. My soul is so blackened, 'She' would despise me for who I have become.' He imagined Hermione's response to him would be much like the girl he had taken into his home, as his mind reflected on the afternoon's events. She had pointed simply at Wormgood's men, doing her best to keep her voice steady, saying only, "They are guilty."

Severus had wasted no time in handing down their sentences, "Avada Kedavra" he said quickly, skillfully pointing his wand at the two naked and trembling men to his left. He gave no time for anyone to dispute the sentence, no time to discuss why she had come to her conclusion. Severus had known only in that time that she had chosen the way he had wanted, not the way that was accurately reflected in the logs. She had chosen the loyal Death Eater men, ones who would have fought to the death to keep the prisoners contained, not those who would delight in seeing Voldemort thwarted.

Before his extended absence from his duties, Severus had had more control over who was brought on as a guard and who they worked with. When he had been called away by the Dark Lord, Wormgood had taken this over as Warden. It was not long thereafter that word of frequent escapes had reached not only his ears, but those of the Dark Lord. With no one there to pull strings and fake the books with the number of deaths, his system was slowly falling apart. The guards, of course, had no clue Severus was pulling the strings by pairing Order of the Phoenix sympathizers together, it just simply happened. Now Severus was locked in a battle for political survival and favor, Wormgood having seen some sort of mismanagement of the facility as a way to rise in ranks. Thus a fierce rivalry had begun, pitting the two men against one another for power, glory and survival.

Flexing his swollen fingers so they wouldn't get stiff, Severus could see that Erica was observing him in the window's reflection. He took this moment to speak up, "Tell me what you are thinking." His voice was low, his tone difficult to say no to.

She turned her head from the window to him, moving her body slightly so as to see him better. The girl rarely looked directly at him, she favored looking over his shoulder or toward the ground. Now her eyes penetrated him in a way he had not known before. Unsure of what to say, she sipped a bit of firewhiskey to fill the awkward silence. Severus settled in his chair, eyes locked on his prey not giving in to her. He drank her in, staring at her unabashedly until she would speak. Eventually Erica complied, "He really does hate you." She paused, "The Warden I mean."

Pressing the tips of his fingers together in front of him, Severus simply raised an eyebrow. Apathy exuded from his person.

"I guess you already knew that." She said, realizing a simple sentence would not be enough to quell his curiosity about her thoughts. Erica stared down at her glass a moment, her mouth attempting to contort into the right words. "You didn't have to beat him almost to death. Now he'll have a reason to get even, or worse." She said finally. Her eyes firmly on him.

Their eyes locked, Severus said the first thing that came to his mind. "But he came toward you. Did you not see he was going to kill you?" Instantly he wished he could have taken back his words, but it was too late. They were there, hanging heavily over both of them. A betrayal of his true feelings for the girl in front of him, a betrayal of Hermione who never knew how much he loved her. He felt immediately guilty and vulnerable under her confused gaze.

Something was going on in her head as if she were re-playing the moment in her mind, trying to see what he had seen from his perspective. He'd saved her twice now from death, her only thanks to him had been a failed attempt to put him in an early grave. He smirked thinking about the look of surprise on her face as he'd pulled her close to him, knife in her hand, trembling and wet. Not knowing what to think of his expression she looked down at the floor, not wanting to continue matching his gaze. Perhaps it was not often that she had seen a man physically beaten within an inch of his life, perhaps she didn't know whether to thank him or slap him.

Severus would not have spared Wormgood his life had it not been for Erica. He'd seen the enraged Warden moving toward the girl after his men fell, his wand pointed toward her, an unforgivable curse on his lips. Severus had moved quickly, grabbing the man's wrist and pointing his wand away from Erica, a blast blowing stone pieces from the wall. That was when his rage took him, Severus grabbed the fatter man in his left hand, then began punching him in the face with his right. It was extremely uncommon for wizards to have physical confrontations, which meant it took them completely off guard when confronted with such situations. Severus always used this to his advantage, punching the blonde man in the face again and again, following him down toward the floor. In this rage he could not hear the Warden pleading for his life, nor hear the words of the other men that surrounded them. Wormgood had tried to kill her, he had tried to harm Erica, and he would pay. The weaker man's pleas turned to gurgling, then to silence as blood continued to splatter back on Severus' face. He would have continued beating the man into an unrecognizable pulp had he not caught a glimpse of the horror on Erica's face. Tears streamed down her cheeks and her lips contorted into a scream. It was the look in her eyes that stopped him - her golden beautiful eyes, she looked at him like he was a beast, a wild animal, a monster. Hermione's face had flashed into this mind in that moment, their eyes so similar that you could imagine Hermione when you looked at Erica. He'd dropped the unconscious man from his grasp, looked down to see the damage done to his hand, wiped the blood from his face with his handkerchief and left, motioning for Erica to follow close.

Coming out of his own musings Severus looked at Erica, attempting to further divine her emotions. She had had enough time in the archives room to see what he had been doing, she was smart enough to put it all together, 'But had she?' He licked his lips in anticipation, his heart beat faster in his chest at the thought that she might suspect his deeds. He needed her to fear him, in order to keep her mouth shut about what was going on. He needed her to hate him so as to continue his plan in the way Hermione would have envisioned. He needed her to love him, so that he could feel human again.

"You feel pity for Wormgood, even though he would have not hesitated to take your life. Why?" He said.

"I put two of his closest men to death, I can understand why he might be angry." She said, looking into her glass and taking another sip. "The Dark Lord has put us all in a mode for survival. He hunts us for doing the things we love, being who we are. He makes us swing at the gallows just because we stand for something that should be normal."

The look that flashed across her face as she said those words, signaled to Severus that she had said something she should not have. The speed with which Severus set upon her, slamming her body into the wall behind her, her glass shattered on the floor, was a sign that he had understood the magnitude of those words. This Erica Simmons knew much more than she had let on before, she could have been very much in the Order's inner circle. She could have even known 'Her'.

With one hand on her neck, holding her jaw toward him, his other across her chest Severus brought himself nose to nose with the girl. "You knew Potter and Weasley?" He sneered, trying to see how much he could scare out of her.

Tears rolled down the girl's cheeks as she nodded, a look of sadness and desperation taking over her features, the alcohol had not helped. "Look at me." Severus ordered. When she refused he said it again, tightening his grip on her neck, "Look - at -me." She was refusing, closing her eyes and turning her face to the side.

With the lack of breath her eyes opened without her wanting them to, it was then that he dove into her mind. He could feel Erica fighting him, her nails scratching across his chest and neck, her feet kicking at him, her body writhing with the hopes of getting away from his iron grip. She was breaking skin, using what little she had at her disposal to protect her mind. Severus was much stronger than her and much more determined to see what the girl knew and if she knew anything about his beloved Hermione.

Severus snorted at the realization that she was an occlumens, and an accomplished one at that. As he dove deeper and deeper into her mind he could not find anything, it was clear as the summer sky, as still as the forbidden forest. It brought him back to when he had taught Potter these techniques and the boy had failed miserably. It brought him back to when he had taught Hermione these techniques and she had excelled. 'Did she teach you?' he wondered to himself as he pushed further. Erica was using his techniques afterall, ones he had developed over years. The girl was good, she was strong and clearly had more information than he had originally thought. Only spies and high up Order members would have mastered these techniques at such a level that they could deflect his attacks.

Erica was screaming from the pain of what he was doing to her mind, the amount of strength and stamina in her little body was astounding. It was then that he saw a small door in the middle of her mind, it was simple and brown. Severus wasted no time grasping the handle and yanking the door open. Her hand flew to his face, pushing his chin doing her best to turn his eyes away from her own. She was heaving now, hyperventilating at his penetration of her mind. He was close, so close…

The door to Severus' study flew open and Maddie walked through, carrying a letter in a green envelope. "Master this has come urgently for you." The matron had stumbled unwittingly into his physical battle with his chambermaid. The sight must have been quite something given the level of concern that flashed across her face.

At that point it was too late, Severus had lost concentration he pulled from Erica's mind to attend to the older women. Loosening his grip on the girl she immediately pushed herself away, putting several paces between them, grabbing her throat and coughing.

The letter was from the Dark Lord, "Put it on the table and leave at once." Severus said, running his hand across his neck, collecting the blood that had been running there.

The stunned matron nodded her head stupidly and backed out of the room as quickly as she had barged in.

"And you." Severus continued, his voice full of vitriol. "I'm not done with you."

The look of determination that surfaced in her eyes almost made him smile, 'The girl has guts no doubt about that.'

"Go to your room and report to me tomorrow as usual. Then you will start your controller post at the prison as discussed. Now leave."

She picked herself off the floor and ran out of the room, not looking back. Severus stayed where he was until the door slammed behind her. He went to his drink, downed in one go and threw the glass into the fire.

'If I had been faster, been prepared for her defenses, I might have even glimpsed Hermione...seen her for the first time in a long time.' He sighed. 'Could I even face her?' His hand went subconsciously to his breast pocket.

He whirled around and dropped into his chair near the fire, the green envelope from the Dark Lord just an arm's length away. His fingers tapped on the wooden table surface, the crisp tone of the wood echoing in his ears. Severus Snape had wished his own death for so long now, imagined how it might be, anticipated it with the utmost care - now that it was staring him in the face he felt nervous, scared even.

Erica had been right, he had gone overboard with Wormgood and his men knowing that the Dark Lord would be informed of the incident. He had just not anticipated the summons to be so expedient. His fingers touched the envelope and he felt a tingle in his body, a clenching in his heart.

"Oh bloody hell." Severus exhaled before grabbing the envelope and opening it.

'Dear Severus,

It has come to my attention that there is trouble at one of your camps. I will investigate this matter personally. A revel will be head at your home in three week's time, then we will put this little issue to bed.

Lord Voldemort'

Severus crumbled the parchment in his hand, knowing what this innocuous request meant. There would be blood and it would most likely be his. He put his face in his palms, inhaling and then running them through his hair. Erica would have three weeks to commit the plans of the camp to memory, to know who was in the camp, important enough to free ...and where the wands were being kept. If she was smart and despised him enough, she would find a way to get through his wards holding the wands of the prisoners and change the balance of power. If she was the woman he hoped she was, she would orchestrate the biggest breakout in wizarding history. So many ifs and so little time. Severus' stomach clenched at the thought of failure. It clenched at the thought of holding her close to him, as close as he had only moments before.

'What other choice do I have?' he pleaded to nobody in particular.

The plan had unfolded in front of him, now it was about execution in more ways than one.